Every national leader hopes to leave a legacy. In 1962, in a game of dangerous brinkmanship, US president John F. Kennedy forced then Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev to back down over the Cuban missile crisis. Despite this achievement, Kennedy is better remembered for the manner in which he advanced US aerospace technology through the establishment of NASA, establishing US dominance in the space race.
One of former US president Richard Nixon's achievements during his administration was the establishment of normal diplomatic relations with China, a nation making up one-fifth of the world population. As for former US president Jimmy Carter, he did not have much to boast about after his term in office, but since he stepped down in 1981, he has dedicated himself to humanitarian work.
Former US president Ronald Reagan's achievements were his insistence on promoting democracy and liberty, and his tough policy toward the Soviet Union, which he nicknamed the "the evil empire." Reagan increased US defense spending to strengthen the US' negotiating position. As a result, the Soviet Union was forced to devote more of its economic resources to defense, which resulted in an economic collapse and then the dissolution of the communist regimes in Europe after 1991.
For US President George W. Bush, the issue that concerns him is, of course, whether he will be able to leave a lasting legacy after his second presidential term, which ends in 2008.
In Bush's State of the Union address last month, he spent half of his time focusing on US diplomatic policies. With Bush's hardline positions on Iraq, Iran and North Korea, many fear that his aggressive anti-terrorist strategies have been tainted by human-rights violations. They might also notice Bush's conservative social welfare policies. But Bush's recent speech was composed of restatements of general policies, and are hardly the sort of achievements that Bush would hope for. Also, Bush promised to train 70,000 high school teachers to lead advanced placement courses in math and science, as well as to reinforce science education and research in order to promote the US' economic competitiveness. But these too are nothing more than reiteration of current government policies.
Bush also stressed that "America is addicted to oil." He announced the Advanced Energy Initiative, which includes a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy, and vowed to replace more than 75 percent of the oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. Furthermore, he hopes to invest more in zero-emission coal-fired energy to replace oil. These were some items that Bush hopes the public will remember as a part of his administrative achievements.
Given that his family's wealth comes from the oil business and he grew up in Texas -- which is a fairly wealthy state thanks to its abundant oil fields -- Bush is truly a man of vision to have the courage to urge the US public not to depend on oil anymore. This policy is for the good of the environment as well as for human beings. Of course, if Bush realizes this goal, it will be added to his achievements.
Turning to Taiwan, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) is know for his advocacy of democracy in Taiwan and as the nation's first popularly-elected national leader. Lee's achievements have been praised by many national leaders and people throughout the world.
Here's hoping that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will also have some achievements to be proud of when he steps down.
Tsong Tien-tzou is a member of the Taipei Society and a research fellow at the Institute of Physics at the Academia Sinica.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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